


Cloud Nine

by planesandtrainsandcars



Category: Actor RPF, British Actor RPF
Genre: Actor - Freeform, F/M, Fluff, Gen, Romance, Smut, actress, new romance - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-01-12
Updated: 2015-01-12
Packaged: 2018-03-07 07:51:05
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,391
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3167159
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/planesandtrainsandcars/pseuds/planesandtrainsandcars
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Emilia Meyer had always wondered what it was like to be in love but she had never had time for such a thing, until she met Benedict Cumberbatch. Being in the same business can be both good and bad. Friendships will grow and love will develop. This is a story of true love and all that’s in between.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Cloud Nine

Ever since Emilia was a child she had wanted to act. After getting the part of Mary in the school Nativity at the age of six, she had begged her parents to somehow help her pursue her dream. It wasn’t until after her fourteenth birthday that Emilia finally got her first real role – one that didn’t involve her eating some beans or cereal and giving the camera a smile that would hopefully sell the product. Since then, her life had been gradually getting more hectic, but Emilia didn’t want to change it for the world. She had met so many people she adored through the work she did, so many friends that she hoped to stay in touch with for as long as she could. But of course she still had those who had been with her through everything.

It had been an extremely busy year for the woman. Shooting three films within twelve months had been tiring and when Emilia had been offered a part in the fourth series of _Sherlock_ , she had been dubious to take it. She needed and wanted a break after her busy year but after watching the first three series’ of the show, it was clear how brilliant and clever it was and she realised she would have been an idiot to turn down the role.

She had worked with Martin before in a few episodes of _The Office_ and it had been nice to see him again after so long but she had never met Benedict before. Having been a fan of Benedict’s since seeing him in _Starter for 10_ , the thought of officially meeting him made her extremely nervous. But she had nothing to worry about. He had been so lovely to her and calmed her nerves almost instantly.

Since meeting Benedict at the read through for the episode, she had gotten along great with him. They had just clicked. They laughed at each other’s jokes and they had a great time between takes on set. Benedict often teased her for having to stand on a box for close ups because of the height difference. Whenever she messed up her scenes, they would giggle and he would jokingly scold her. She would miss him immensely when it she had to go.

“Okay, so would you rather spend the rest of your life having a different hair colour every week, and I mean bright colours, colours you’d be able to see from the end of the street, or would you rather… only ever eat chillies?”

They had been filming the last episode of _Sherlock_ for the past three weeks now. Things had been going great and at the end of the week, in just a few days, Emilia would be leaving. She didn’t want to go. She and Benedict had been getting on amazingly and she had to admit, she would miss him the most.

Benedict laughed at the question and shook his head slightly as he looked at the woman lying across the couch. Her legs were placed over his lap and his long fingers tapped absently at her shin. They had been playing Would You Rather whilst the crew set up the scene, making sure everything was perfect in the flat.

“I’d have to go with the hair,” he replied with a deep chuckle. “They’ve got wigs, you know. No one will ever know if I’ve got bright pink hair,” he shrugged. “Although, I think I might be able to pull it off.”

A few members of the crew looked over to see what Emilia had laughed at. “Oh yeah, I’m sure it would suit you,” she teased, grinning a little. After pushing a dark red curl from her face, she put an arm behind her head. “You’ve got that whole wild, crazy thing about you, Ben. In fact, I’m surprised you haven’t already dyed your hair pink.”

“Well, it has to be the right time,” Benedict told her seriously, head slightly tilted. Emilia chuckled and rolled her eyes. “This kind of thing has to be planned,” he continued, tapping away at her shin. “I mean, what shade of pink should I go for? There’s so many to choose from…”

With another laugh, the woman just shook her head.

“You better miss me when I’m gone,” she said after a moment, a smirk on her lips and a glint in her eye. “I expect to see at least one tear.”

Benedict smiled a little sadly over at her, not really wanting to think about when she would leave. He remembered how close he had gotten to Lara when she was on the set with the Sherlock cast, and they did stay in touch for a while, but eventually they did lose contact after a few months. He didn’t want it to be like that with Emilia. She was different. He had always told himself not to fall for another actress that he was working with, but this time he couldn’t help it. She was a great actress, a wonderful person and she was just beautiful.

“Oh come on… You know I’ll miss you,” he sighed, leaning back on the couch as he put a hand just above her shoe. “You’ll get more than just one tear from me. I’m sure the whole crew will miss you. You’ve been wonderful. But I know you’ll have fun working with Jude, he’s great.”

Once Emilia had finished with her episode of _Sherlock_ , she would be flying out to Los Angeles the Sunday after to start on a new project. She had never acted with Jude Law and had only done a handful of horror films so it would be fun.

With a nod, she looked up at him. She really would miss him. She would miss the whole cast and crew but Benedict had become special to Emilia and she knew she would find it strange not seeing him every day. Benedict always made her laugh, which wasn’t always good. The day before they had been filming a very emotional scene which consisted of her crying for the most part. For the first few takes, one of Benedict’s silly jokes kept popping into her head and she could not stop laughing. They had had to take a long break so she could calm herself down. Emilia hoped the takes wouldn’t be on the gag reel if one was released.

“Yeah, I’ve heard he’s lovely. And I love the script, too.”

Benedict looked over to a couple of the crew who told him they would be ready soon. He wished he could just stay there on the couch with her instead. He tried to remember what the scene was, but he knew it wouldn’t be hard to do with her in it. Well, even though it really was a shocking series for the fans, he always found a good reason to make the cast and crew laugh. He especially loved Emilia’s laugh. He could listen to it all day.

“You’ll do great. I can’t wait to see it when it’s done,” he smiled, patting her leg gently. “I’ll be busy here on the set with Martin and Amanda after you leave. It’ll be so weird without you here,” he said, sitting up to get ready for the scene. “Don’t tell anyone I said this, but I know there’s cake waiting for you for when you’re done filming here. Everyone wants to say goodbye.”

A soft smile appeared on her face. Emilia didn’t think anyone other than Benedict, Martin and Amanda really cared she was leaving. She knew she would burst into tears the moment she saw the cake at the end of the week.

“I hope it’s chocolate,” Emilia chuckled and sat up as a couple of members of the crew came over to fix her hair and makeup.

Benedict laughed as he watched her getting ready, trying to sit still himself as one of the stylists tried to fix his curls, making sure his hair looked the same as it had in the last scene.

“You better keep in contact with me once I go, Ben,” she warned, glancing at him. She tried not to move her lips too much in case it caused her lipstick to smudge. “I’m not letting you be one of those friends I just have on set and never speak to again. I have your number, I’ll make sure we stay in contact whether you like it or not.” She closed her eyes so her eye shadow could be touched up. “I’ll even call you on Saturday to ask you what it’s like filming without me.”

“Don’t worry, Em, I promise I’ll keep in contact,” he told her, reaching over to give her hand a quick squeeze. “And I have your number as well. I’m sure I’ll be a sobbing mess when you’re not here to laugh at my jokes. I’ll have to survive with only Martin’s and Mark’s attempts at laughing at them.” Shaking his head, he gently cleared his throat as he saw all the cameramen getting ready. He thanked the stylists and then stood up. Emilia followed suit.

“So are you actually going to let me slap you?” she asked, looking up from her script and raising a brow at Benedict. “Go on, let me do it,” she grinned.

Raising a brow at the question, he scratched the left side of his jaw with his right hand. He remembered his scenes with Lara, and letting Emilia slap him couldn’t be worse than the times he had been slapped with the riding crop. He sighed and rubbed his eyes, thinking everyone would love to see him get slapped, but it would also obviously look more real is she actually did do it, like all the other women had before.

“I feel like I have no other choice… Everyone else has slapped me for real for scenes, so go ahead, give me your best,” he grinned, giving a quick nod as he took a deep breath and went over to his chair, hoping everyone wouldn’t start laughing. “But remember, the harder you slap, the less tears you’ll get when you leave,” he teased, getting ready to sit as Sherlock

“Or maybe I’ll slap you so hard the tears won’t stop falling for days,” she teased back, giving him a wink. She gave her script back and walked out of the room, going down the stairs and waiting at the bottom.

Once the director called action, Emilia immediately got into character and ran up the stairs, face dark and clearly full of fury. She fired her lines at Benedict and slapped him so hard her hand stung. Benedict couldn’t help but put a hand up to his cheek but he managed to slip in the few lines he had while she shouted at him. She hadn’t meant to slap him so hard but knew it looked too good on camera to stop. Staying in character, she perfectly said the lines she remembered and improvised the ones she forgot.

Benedict sat there for as long as possible, but once Emilia stopped shouting, he couldn’t take it anymore. He slumped down and put his hands over his face, laughing as the tears stung his eyes. The woman could slap someone – that was for sure.

“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry,” he finally managed to laugh out, wiping his eyes as he felt the tears coming, but that was mostly from laughter. “Fuck, Emilia, cool it a little next time, will you?” he laughed and sunk down in his chair, wiping away his tears. He tried to sit up straight again but he found it hard to do.

Emilia covered her own face with her hands as soon as he came out of character, and laughed almost nervously. “I’m so sorry, Ben. I didn’t mean for it to be that hard,” she said quickly, going over to the laughing man and wrapping her arms around him, pulling him to her chest. “Oh God, Ben, I’m really sorry…”

“It’s alright, don’t worry,” he chuckled after taking a deep breath to try to stop his laughing. He looked up at Emilia with a bright smile and put a hand up to her hair as she apologised over and over. She pulled him closer, somehow hoping the closer he was, the less his cheek would sting.

He knew she would have probably apologised once they had finished the scene but he hadn’t expected it to be quite that many apologies.

“Hey, it’s okay, honestly. You just did your job, I’m the idiot for not holding in my laugher,” he grinned, using his free hand to get away the last of the tears. “But yeah, you can slap… Maybe just try and hold back a little next time. I’d rather not do this scene over and over,” he laughed, looking into her eyes. He bit his lip a little.

When he looked up, Emilia noticed the dark red mark she had left on his cheek. She frowned. “Are you sure you’re okay?” she asked worriedly. “I really didn’t mean to slap you so hard. I don’t think we’ll have to do that bit again anyway. I’m sure it was good enough and, well, loud enough as well… I’m really sorry, Ben.” She felt so guilty. She leaned down and kissed his forehead, then pulled him back against her chest, holding him close. “Feel free to get back at me somehow. Cancel the cake. God, I’m so sorry…”

Benedict let out a long breath and wrapped his arms around her once he realise she wasn’t going to pull away, feeling his cheeks grew warmer after the kiss. It did hurt, though. A lot. It still felt as if her hand was on his cheek, but he knew it would go away eventually. It was nothing to worry about.

“I’ve told you, I’m fine,” he smiled, kissing the side of her head that he could get to without moving her away. They had hugged before of course, but it felt a little different that time. He sat up and pulled her down onto his lap, thinking they both just needed a break to breathe. “And there’s no way I’m cancelling that cake. I’ve even made sure it’s chocolate. Seriously, don’t worry,” he told her, noticing the furrow in her brow. “I’m still alive, aren’t I?” He ran a hand over his cheek to feel how warm it was. “Let’s just take a break, yeah?”

Nodding in agreement, Emilia made herself comfortable on his lap.

“It looks like it’s gonna take a while for your cheek to go back to its normal colour,” she murmured and moved his hand away so she could examine his cheek properly now that she was closer. “I’ll try not to slap you that hard again if we have to do the scene one more time,” she sighed and kissed his cheek before wrapping her arms around his neck, quite liking how cosy it was on the chair with him.

Benedict laughed quietly and blamed the slap for his warm cheeks, but he knew it was the kiss again. He kept his arms around her and kissed her cheek back. If Martin was there he knew he would be smirking at the two of them and whispering to Amanda. Honestly, Benedict was glad Martin and Amanda had the day off.

He pulled Emilia closer. “Hopefully they can just cut out the part of me laughing so we won’t have to do it again.” He sighed happily, running one hand up and down her back without really thinking about it, causing goosebumps to appear of Emilia’s arms. He tried to ignore how good her fingers felt in his hair as she played with a few of his curls at the nape of his neck. “But alright,” he nodded. “If you want to make it up to me you can let me have the biggest slice of cake,” he grinned, giving a little nod as he looked at her fondly.

Emilia smiled. “Okay, that sounds fair.”

“We’re going to have to move, you know. I have that scene with Mark later today.”

“Well that’s later,” she shrugged, focusing on the soft hair between her fingers. She liked how he had his hair for _Sherlock_ but she had seen photographs of him with it shorter and thought that suited him much better. “We can stay here until then.”

The rest of the cast and crew had been forgotten. All Emilia saw was Benedict. She loved the colour of his eyes and she couldn’t stop looking at them. They were simply beautiful.

Emilia really hoped they didn’t have to redo the scene. For one, she didn’t want to slap him again. And two, she just didn’t want to move. It was nice. As much as it made her sound like a teenage girl, it made her stomach feel warm and fuzzy. Emilia mentally groaned at herself. She was a thirty four year old woman, for goodness sake.

Benedict looked down at the floor behind the woman sitting on his lap, and just smiled to himself, hoping Mark didn’t decide to come in early like he usually did when his husband was working on things of his own. He still more or less hated the curls but he felt himself smile as she played with them. It was nice. Benedict sometimes did wonder if he would ever properly grow up. He felt like a schoolboy cuddling with his girlfriend, though he had to get rid of that thought quickly. He had to stay at least a little professional.

“So what are you doing later tonight, then?” he asked, looking down at the petite, red headed woman. “Like, later when everyone’s gone home.”

With a shrug of a shoulder, Emilia sighed a little. “Well I’m done now for the day, unless we have to do that scene again. Anyway, I’m probably just gonna go home and start packing,” she told him after a moment. “I fly out to LA on Sunday and start filming again on Monday. I’ll be there for a couple of months so I need to really decide what I _want_ to bring and what I _actually need_.”

Emilia hated that she wouldn’t have much of a break between shooting _Sherlock_ and her new film. Leaving Sherlock on Friday only gave her Saturday to do whatever she wanted to do and to relax, but she knew she would be doing last minute checks to see if she had everything for the busy couple of months ahead of her.

“I’m gonna have to try and sort out my sleeping pattern since I’ll be eight hours behind what I’m used to,” she muttered. “Should be fun.”

As she spoke, Benedict watched her, just making sure he wouldn’t forget her face when she left. He had photos of course, ones that they had taken together whenever they could, but nothing was the same as actually sitting there with her and listening to her speaking, watching her lips and eyes. He hated the feeling he got when he thought about not seeing her for that long, and that he would have to actually give a proper goodbye soon – in just days.

“I can help you with the packing, if you want,” he offered, giving her a slight smile. “I’m great when it comes to packing everything you need,” he chuckled, leaning his head back on the chair, keeping his eyes on her. He was so focused on her that he knew if anyone else tried to speak to him, he wouldn’t hear. “But I understand if you want some time for yourself. I can just ask a mate to go out if you want to be on your own to pack.”

Emilia thought for a moment. “Well how about you come to mine and help me pack and we order a load of takeaway food and just watch whatever’s on the telly until we fall asleep?” she suggested with a smile.

Benedict’s smile grew bigger at the offer, thinking a night of takeaway and television sounded nice, and it sounded like he wouldn’t be kicked out when he started to fall asleep, though he knew most of the time it was he who left before it got too late at night, not wanting to seem like falling asleep on her couch was all he wanted.

He shifted a little to sit more comfortable, kissing her forehead gently as he did so. “I think that sounds like a brilliant plan,” he grinned, nodding a little and hoped he didn’t look too happy about falling asleep at her place.

“We don’t need to pack everything tonight,” she shrugged. “I’ll probably do most of it on Friday or Saturday anyway but I just want to get it started so I know I’m not leaving it all until the very last minute.”

“That’s fine. I have to warn you, though, once I fall asleep somewhere, it takes a lot of effort to get me out in the morning,” Benedict laughed. Emilia grinned and chuckled softly. “So,” he said, pushing a curl from her cheek. “I can come over to you after I’m done with all the Sherlock and Mycroft scenes. Shouldn’t be too late, but Mark is always texting his husband so we have to take a lot of breaks. Maybe I’ll just take his phone away for today.”

Laughing gently, Emilia nodded. “Yeah, I think that might be best,” she agreed.

Emilia wished she’d had the opportunity to act with Mark but sadly her character had no scenes with Mycroft. There was always next series – that was if her character got brought back.

She pulled her legs up so they fell over the arm of the chair. “Just text me when you’re on your way over and then I’ll order the food,” she told him, moving a hand to the side of his head to play with a curl. She smiled at him. “What would you like?” she asked. “Do you want a Chinese or something, or just something like pizza? We could get both if you want,” she shrugged.

Benedict thought briefly at her question, though a large part of his mind was focussing on making sure his hands didn’t go anywhere inappropriate since they were on set and there were still people walking around.

He knew Mark would hold him there for at least a couple of hours to make sure everything was done properly, but he would actually take Mark’s phone if he excused himself to send a text.

Benedict moved his gaze back to her eyes, trying to keep his hands on her back and arms as he held her close. “Well… I think maybe we should get both. I just want to stay on your couch with you and relax and not have to worry about getting up and ordering more food if we eat everything,” he laughed. He glanced over at Steven, who seemed to be talking to Mark on the phone, which meant he was almost there. “As much as I hate to get up from this chair, I do actually have to talk to Steven, and Mark – whenever he arrives.”

She sighed in response and kissed his cheek. She didn’t want their little moment to be ruined but Benedict had a job to do.

Emilia reluctantly got up from his lap and straightened out her blouse before going over to check if she needed to redo any more lines or scenes. After getting the all clear, she went to her trailer.

*******

Was it normal to be this nervous? She had only invited him around to pack and then watch some television, though she knew there would most likely be no packing involved. Emilia only had a small number of days left with Benedict and they would not be spent going through her underwear drawer or deciding which shoes she could part with for two months. She decided to save that for when she had nothing else to do and when she was alone.

The woman wiped off her makeup and washed her face, then took off her costume, changing into the yoga pants and t-shirt she had walked to work in. Her apartment wasn’t too far from the set, only a twenty minute walk, so she only drove when they were shooting outside. She didn’t want to be chased home by fans.

Emilia stayed in her trailer, thinking far too much about Benedict staying the night. It wasn’t as though they were going to be up all night having glorious sex, although that would have been nice. The thought made her blush.

_You’re a grown woman, Emilia. Stop being a fucking idiot._

Even though she had never met Benedict before getting a part in _Sherlock_ , she had always thought he was handsome and she had heard so many good things about him. Emilia really couldn’t think of anything bad anyone had said about him. She couldn’t say anything bad about him herself. He was just so lovely and sweet.

In the weeks that Emilia had known him, they had only argued once, and that was over who should have had the last chocolate biscuit. They eventually decided to split it into two.

After tying up her hair and replying to a few fans on Twitter, she grabbed her jacket and bag and made her way back to the set, where she spotted Benedict talking to Steven and Mark. With a smile, she walked over.

“I guess I’ll see you later, then,” she said to Benedict when the three men turned to her. “I don’t mind how late you stay here. Just text me whenever you’re on your way. Even if it’s stupid o’clock when you finish, you can still come and kip on my couch,” she chuckled.

Benedict smiled and nodded at the shorter woman. “Yes, of course, thanks,” he replied. “I’ll see you as soon as I can get away from here – and I’ve already taken Mark’s phone,” he chuckled and leaned down to press a kiss close to the corner of her lips.

Her cheeks flamed at the kiss and she smiled almost shyly at him. “See you later, then,” she said and gave Steven and Mark a slight wave before heading out of the studio.


End file.
